1099 A.D. Crusaders conquer Jerusalem, setting the worlds ablaze.
This city, sacred to all, instead of becoming a symbol of unity it became a symbol of endless war. The armies of two Gods rally their strengths.
The Christians hold the newly formed Crusader states but the Muslim warriors, fierce and unrelenting, are ready to reclaim their lands.
But the outcome of the battles in the Holy Lands cannot be easily foreseen.
Will you emerge victorious or will you be forgotten in the sands of time?

Crusades is a card-driven (semi cooperate) light wargame depicting the series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims to control the holy lands. Each player takes the roles of Christian and Muslim leaders with objective to siege, conquer cities and fight to control the christian kingdoms of Cilician Armenia and Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantio). Also at the same time they must defend their imperial cities from their enemies.
Τhe game lasts 7 rounds and in each round two historical event cards determine the conditions and the battles of the game.

At the end of the game

• the control of Jerusalem
• the number of objective cities conquered
• the number of winning battles
• the influence/control of the christian kingdoms of Cilician Armenia and Eastern Roman Empire

are compared and the side with the most wins the game!!!

Strategize wisely, it’s the only way to control the Holy Lands !!!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of Crusades. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:

Main Game:

CRUSADES, as you may gather, is a game set in the time of the great Crusades, where control over Jerusalem was paramount, and ultimately controlling the Holy Lands was the goal.

The game aims to recreate this period of history, and it does a very good job of that in its current form, and the game is being tweaked and improved all the time because of reviews and play through feedback.

The rules as I got them (printed from a PDF) were nicely put together, and fairly easy to follow, with plenty of colour pictures and diagrams showing which components are used where, and how the game works in the form of actions and examples, and if this is continued in the final draft then the rulebook will be very good in my opinion.

Each player takes on the role of a ‘leader’ and they get that leaders player board and standee along with the appropriate tokens associated with your leader

Set up was pretty easy and quick, with only a few initial items on the board, and more are added once actions and outcomes of actions become apparent during player turns.

The theme has been handled very well, as some may see games where religion played a massive part in the historical context as a no-no, but for me history is there to be learnt from, not feared, and if done well they can serve to help people have a better understanding of how thinking was at that point in world history, and how different (or not) it is in todays’ world. For me the game conveys the struggles and beliefs of both sides in this conflict.

The mechanics as they stand have been well thought out, and if they are still being tweaked and improved on this can we hope that the game will be even better by the time of launch.

Game Overview – Actions

The game’s basic rule is simple… factions take turns playing, and on each turn your team decides which of its up to 3 players will take the initiative, and that player chooses an action from their cards, carries that out and then discards the card they used to perform that action. 

Each round opens with an event card from the 2 different event decks, one for the Muslim side, and one for the Christian side.

Unless the Christian / Crusader event card overrules it, the Muslim side always takes the first turn.

So, in effect, the first faction resolves the effect of their event card, then the opposing side resolves their own event card, and once both have been resolved players can begin playing action cards.

Playing a card means using one of its listed actions, and then discarding the card played.

At any point of the game, you can choose to discard 2 action cards as an army movement action,

There are some STRATAGEM cards which give the player the option to discard any card, pay the required amount of supplies, and then use its actions instead of playing a card from your hand.

If the situation occurs where all the actions you have at your disposal cannot be made, you are required to discard any remaining cards you have.

Running Out of Cards

When a leader runs out of cards, they cannot play any action until the round ends, unless a tactics card is used.

If all leaders run out of cards, the round ends.

If there are no more event cards left, then you’ve played all seven years of the game and it’s time to add up the points and crown the ruler of the Holy Lands.

All actions can be used only by the ‘leader’ who played them, except for Instant Actions which can be used at any time, by anyone. The actions available are;-

Army Movement – Move your leader one space (‘spaces’ are either dots or cities, but you cannot end your turn / movement in the same space as any other leader, ally or foe.

Battle – Attack a neighbouring enemy leader and initiate the battle sequence.

Supply Caravan – Adjust the supply truck by adding one on the space on your leader’s mat.

Espionage – If an enemy leader ends their turn in a neighbouring space, you may play this action card to steal a supply from them.

Call to Arms – You adjust your army by one position on your leader’s mat.

Dysentery – You cancel out the Call to Arms by an opposing leader.

Siege – Place one of your faction tokens in the city where your leader stands, and it is marked as ‘conquered’. You can also use this action to conquer a city in the Armenian or Byzantine provinces.

Crusade / Jihad – In each game one of the target cities can be conquered ONLY by this action. It is always the first city on the target card.

Naval Battle / Transport – Use the anchor to move your leader from one space to another of the same colour. If a general is at a port you wish to dock at then a battle is initiated.

Tactics – you can give or take a card from any player of your team.

Regroup – Trade a card with another player of your team.

Passing – If you can’t use any cards because the actions are not allowed or viable, you can / have to pass and then discard all your remaining cards to the discard pile.

Campaign – Move up to 2 spaces in any direction you wish, but you may not pass through an enemy leader during your turn.

Holy War – Move one space and declare a battle to an opposing leader. You can also use this as a battle action or an army movement action if you wish.

Patrol – Playing this card forces ALL of your opponents to discard all cards they have which have a sabotage action on it.

Sabotage – Choose any enemy leader irrespective of the distance between you, and take 2 cards from their hand. Look at them and return one  and discard one. If they only have one card, discard that card.

Stratagem – there are 2 options when using this action, namely;

1. If your leader does not yet have a Stratagem card then draw 2 cards from the Stratagem deck, choose one to keep then shuffle the other back into the deck. The card you chose stays with you for the rest of the game.
2. Using the Stratagem action to replace or introduce a General who was left out at the start of the game, which can occur under 2 specific conditions, which are

• Leader Replacement – if NO leader has been eliminated, you may use this to replace your current leader with one that was left out at the start of the game.
• Leader Elimination – if a leader from your faction has been eliminated, any player from the same faction who still has a leader may use the action to bring the previously excluded leader into play. They are placed in their starting position, and the player whose leader was eliminated assumes control of this new leader.

Stratagem cards are in effect a ‘special trait’ each leader has developed over the course of their career, and these cards vary so they create more replayability in the game.

When you use this action, you draw 2 cards and keep one of them, and you keep this until the end of the game, or until your leader is eliminated, whichever comes first.

A leader is eliminated if his army is reduced to zero at any point in the game, whereupon his cards are lost and cannot be given to another Leader. If at this point they had a Stratagem card, it is returned to the unused Stratagem card pile.

If a Leader loses a battle and there is no valid retreat space they are also eliminated… Perhaps you weren’t such a good leader after all.

Winning & Victory Points

If you play all seven rounds and no faction has managed to win the game via Battle Superiority, then you will add up Victory Points to determine the winner(s).

There are several ways to earn Victory Points, and they are;-

1. Target Cards – On each target card the names of the cities you must conquer are listed, along with the VP’s you earn for doing so. As previously mentioned, the first city on the card can ONLY be conquered using the Crusade or Jihad action. The others are conquered using the siege action.
2. The Byzantine & Armenian Provinces – These provinces are targets for both factions, and any city conquered can be conquered for a second time by the opposing faction. For VP purposes, the lead faction in Armenia gains 1VP, and the same for the Byzantine province. If the same faction controls both then gain 3Vp’s. 
3. Winning Battles – Each time you win a battle, the battle marker is moved one place closer to your symbol, thereby earning VP’s. If you win 5 consecutive battles you instantly win the Crusade.
4. Having Control of JERUSALEM – Whichever faction leader is closer to Jerusalem at the end of the game gains 1VP. If leaders are equidistant, then no one gains any VP.
5. Eliminating an Enemy Leader – 1vp is scored for each enemy leader eliminated.

Battle Superiority is achieved by winning 5 battles in a row, and if you do this your ‘side’ instantly wins the game.

The copy I received is a prototype and as such is a WIP and the components are not in their final ‘form’, but the artwork is very thematic and has been done extremely well.

I would suggest keeping an eye on the crowdfunding pages and social media to see exactly what progress is made regarding how the components turn out.

After reading Carl’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Crusades

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